Lavoisier in the Year One
The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution
“Dramatic . . . an evocative biography.” —Toronto Globe and Mail
Antoine Lavoisier invented chemistry as we know it, overthrowing medieval alchemy and creating the terminology still used by chemists today. Madison Smartt Bell’s narrative reads like a race to the finish line, because the very circumstances that enabled Lavoisier to secure his reputation as the father of modern chemistry (a fortune spent on lab equipment and aristocratic social connections) also caused his glory to be cut short by the French Revolution.
“Bell succeeds, not only in depicting the rigorousness of Lavoisier’s method, but also in conveying a sense of his character, as revealed most affectingly by the quietly heroic composure with which he faced his own death.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“A two-part thriller. The first describes Lavoisier’s successful effort to win the race to explain how chemical processes work; the second, his pursuit by French revolutionaries.” —New York Times